If You Worked for a School

Claim Requirements

If you are a teacher or a school employee working in a non-instructional position, there are two primary considerations for unemployment benefits eligibility:

Whether you are on a scheduled break: If you have wages from an educational institution in the base period of your claim, are on a scheduled break in the school year and you have a contract or reasonable assurance of a job as defined below in the next academic term or after the break, you generally would not qualify for unemployment benefits because we cannot use your school wages to calculate your benefit amount.

Type of job separation: If you lose your job through no fault of your own, you might qualify for unemployment benefits. Eligibility for benefits is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Resignation or Retirement

Incentives to Resign or Retire

Some schools offer financial incentives to persuade employees to resign or retire. If you voluntarily accept these incentives, you might not qualify for benefits. However, if your employer would have laid you off anyway, you might qualify even though you resigned or retired.

Resign Rather than Accept Layoff

If you sign a resignation letter rather than accept a layoff it may affect your unemployment benefits because leaving a job voluntarily might disqualify you from receiving benefits. However, you may receive benefits if your employer would have let you go because of budget cuts, regardless of whether you signed the letter of resignation.

Receiving Retirement Pension

If you qualify for unemployment benefits, we will reduce your weekly benefits by any pension amount you received from an employer whose wages we used to calculate your benefits.

See Also

Equal Opportunity Employer/Program
Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.
Deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired customers may contact TWC through the relay service provider of their choice. Equal opportunity is the law.